SUNDAY

Coming soon ...

antisocial, tu perds ton sang froid...

Wir Sind Helden

L.S.,

Gestern war das Deutsche Teil der Stagaire Gemeinschaft beim Konzert von Wir Sind Helden. Da auch genügend Pressesprecher da waren, wird es hier bestimmt noch eine bessere Erklärung der Geschichte geben. Von meiner Seite liefere ich nur die Fotos.

http://martinned.blogspot.com/2006/03/wir-sind-helden.html

"Komisch, dass es auf Deutsch doch besser funktioniert."

European Council 23-24/03/2006

Presidency conclusions (fr) (en)

Voir aussi les arrivées etc.

Coming soon : Des informations exclusives, par nos envoyés spéciaux

NATO

On Thursday, consilium trainees visited NATO HQ in Brussels... and saw this :

No, it is not the result of NATO’s bomb attack, but rather a consequence of the confiscation of our camera!!!

La consiliumliga à l'aube de la nouvelle saison de football!

Une nouvelle saison, de nouveaux joueurs, mais la même ambition !!! En route vers les sommets...

Janina, Giuseppe, Xiana, Milena, Atanaska (càd moi), Martin, José-Miguel (alias Miguelito), Alessandro (alias Rocco Del Piero), Chris, Julian (alias le petit goujat)

Rue van Maerlant

L.S.,

Just a short information note: Departure tomorrow is in the Rue van Maerlant (with an a, and that's how it's prononounced.) Since the link that Ms. Maattala sent us doesn't work anymore, let me tell you it's simply the little street behind Justus Lipsius, connecting it to Belliard. When you leave the building through the Belliard exit (which not a great number of people will do tomorrow, but nevertheless), it's on your right hand side.

www.map24.com

Martin

CLOWN POWER!

As our sense of humour has been often criticized and widely misunderstood, here is the new question of the day: où sont les limites du drôle/ridicule?
P.S. Quelqu’un a dit que le ridicule tue. Eh bien il a eu tort ! Autrefois le ridicule tuait ; aujourd’hui, il tire à DEUX cent mille exemplaires. La preuve en image.

Natalie and Mozart

Last Friday the German diva Natalie invited consilium trainees to her concert in order to celebrate the Mozart Year 2006. We couldn’t hear her voice within the ranks of the choir, but we knew that it was there and it sounds like an angel.
The only thing we can say, my friends is "what a great performance! A Masterpiece!" Requiems are Catholic masses for the dead and are probably some of the most difficult works to compose. But Mozart’s Requiem is so profound that it would make the Devil want to go to Heaven so as to hear his divine genius direct a choir of angels for this piece in person.
Sanctus, Benedictus, Agnus Dei …

... and we decided to follow the Messenger and burn in Hell for eternity!

St. Patrick's Day

L.S.,

In recent times we have of course observed any national holidays that have come up, but today is the second most important one of the year: St. Patrick's Day. The anniversary of the day in the year 432 AD when St. Patrick came to Ireland and christened the country. This is of course something that needs to be celebrated with large quantities of Guinness and Green. Even though I myself will have to come short of the Irish Tradition and only drink in moderation, I hope you will all take a moment to remember the Irish, preferably over a good glass of Guinness in a pub near you.


Just as a little piece of advice: A good glass of Guinness is poored with a two-part or even three-part pour. This means that it is poured until about an inch under the rim, then left to rest for a few minutes, and then poured completely full. If you look into your glass, you should be able to see the Irish three-leaf clover in the foam. And if you don't like Guinness, I can only say to you what my faculty contact said to me when I came to Ireland: Just keep trying...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Trip to Strasbourg, Part I

Dear trainee,

the Strasbourg trip will remain in our mind as one of the most important events organized by the bureau de stage. Why? Because of the reception in the Salons de l’Hôtel de ville at the end of the journey or because we fell in love during the trip? Sois patient, we’ll give you the details in a little while. Let us start from the beginning.

Day 1. Almost immediately after our arrival in Strasbourg, we had the incredible chance to meet Mr. F*** (MEP) at the European Parliament! Btw, Ricardo just sent me this:
"si tu veut ajouter qq chose: http://www.joinfjellner.nu/, on comprend rien...mais c'est marrant d'avoir un teen MEP!!!" This guy is a different type of politician: he has a message: back to basics (he said the slogan was stolen from John Major, but we have a little doubt. Yeah, now we are sure that it’s because he is using “back to basics” hair care products, made with natural extracts… oops, hors sujet, sorry ;). YES, he is participating in 3 committees: international trade, environment, budgetary control, but NO, Filipe, he doesn’t need a special education for that. His most important activity is yelling in the elevator: “I’m a deputy” and looking angry. Blah blah blah, blah blah blah, next one please!

We had a little break before the round table discussion with Mr U*** from the Ombudsman office.
When he entered in the room, our little heart stopped beating. He asked if there are some Slovaks (we looked into his grey eyes and saw a reflection of our soul… and we realized that we could be Slovak, we could be Czech, we could be everything he wants us to be…).
He started his presentation confidently, speaking clearly and slowly about the Ombudsman’s tasks. Eh oui, ces derniers temps, Mr Diamandouros is working hard to promote good administration within the European institutions and bodies. He investigates complaints concerning maladministration (please note that the latter is not legally defined).
Next, our brilliant lawyer presented the conditions for the admissibility of the complaint. He ended his presentation with a few interesting statistics related to various cases and the institutions concerned (it’s always useful to know that contrairement au Conseil, la Commission figure parmi les mauvais élèves). Anyway, it seems that in general the institutions follow the draft recommendations.
What can we say, we were impressed! But it was too late, he left… and we understood that for the first time in our live, we were in love :’(

En fin de journée nous avons assisté aux débats du Parlement européen, tristement abandonné par la majorité de ses députés. Quelques voix dans le désert essayaient néanmoins d’aborder des sujets d’une importance cruciale… Day 2.
The hearing at the European Court of Human Rights was fascinating. The applicant complained under Article 6§1 ECHR (right to a fair hearing within a reasonable time) and under Article 8 ECHR (right to respect for private and family life). We were happy to see once again the Judge Jean-Paul Costa (Vice President of the Court) who was explaining to us a few years ago (during our studies) the virtues of the Article 6§1ECHR. The defence tried to use (in Court!!!) some psychiatric theories about the first trauma, the second trauma and the third syndrome of Vietnam! However, the legal arguments of the Czech government were pragmatic, giving clear and precise references to the facts, the relevant provisions of the internal rules and the jurisprudence of the Court. The Agent, Alexander S*** was quite convincing …but unfortunately, our heart was already taken!

After lunch, we attended a “conference” on the role of the Council of Europe in the European political architecture, presented by Mr T***. He stated that the membership in this organisation is an unwritten condition for the accession to the EU and he was right! Actually, the Copenhagen criteria are the rules that define whether a nation is eligible to join the European Union, often criticised for being too vague, incorporate a need for stable institutions guaranteeing democracy, guarantees about the rule of law and human rights and respect for and protection of minorities. Neither the Convention on human rights, nor the Council of Europe are mentioned. A ce propos, we were shocked by the questions of some of our colleagues concerning Turkey (Turkey has made noticeable progress towards meeting the Copenhagen political criteria). After all, those criteria are so general, that they can allow or deny the EU membership to similar candidate countries. Dans le même ordre d’idées, on se doit de préciser une autre affirmation: “The Union shall be open to all European States which respect its values and are committed to promoting them together”. Since there is no legal definition of what “European” means, geographical, historical and political considerations will have to be taken into account when interpreting this statement. So, question of the day: why do you think that Europe is different? (We are pretty sure that Mongolia is sharing the same values and will present it’s candidature for membership soon)
Please send your answer to candidate.forever@eu-member.never!

The Euromission Party, Part III

Last Friday, consilium trainees went to the Euromission party: a DJ Country team Contest, where 3 teams: Slovenia, Portugal and the Netherlands had to compete against one another!


Despite plenty of support for the Portugal and some desperate sounds coming from Martin’s throat for the Netherlands, Slovenia won (yeees)!!!But on the dance flour, there was only one winner: the Portugal!

Those guys are already qualified in the category “best consilium trainee dancer of the year”, as a part of the end of the year biggest event, organized by the President, the Editor in chief and the journalists of the blog! The name of the winners will be announced at the end of the traineeship. Awards will be distributed in various categories: best male, best female, worst male, worst female, tallest trainee (of course, I’m already on the list for that one!) etc. Please note that only members of the blog can vote and be nominated. For the others, ask your porte-paroles for an invitation and register ASAP.

DISINFORMATION NOTE FOR THE VISIT TO STRASBOURG

1.The visits are intended to give trainees a lot of fun and an insight of Strasbourg nightlife. Discussions are supposed to be held with locals (or not) somewhere in a Pub, Disco, in the Hotel corridors or (depending on the mood) in the rooms.

2.Please DO NOT BE ON TIME, the MEP don't have nothing to do, so let them wait. If you fell bored during the meeting please go to the cafeteria.

3.There is a question-and-answer session after every presentation, girls, please try not to ask the MEP for his phone number.

4.Please avoid long phone calls during the meetings, the electromagnetic waves from the phones are bad for the health.

5.The bus will leave promptly at all times indicated on the programme, so pay the driver a beer ant tell him to wait. The taxi is expensive, and you will have to pay meals and other drinks (wine, you know, is up to the T. office)

6.We remind you that, once registered for the visit, trainees MUST take part and are, of course, expected to participate in all the activities, mainly in those described in the point 7.

7.Please bring as much alcohol you can to the hotel rooms and definitely have some fun and organise parties in the rooms. Invite other customers in the hotel and show them how the Council people party.

8.Do pay attention with regard to the prices of alcohol, especially in discotheques - and, girls, don't accept invitations from boys you don't know, those from the Council are good enough.

9.Check regularly the hotel reception for messages, we never know if someone in our corridor wants to meet with us.

10.Should you have some other interesting thing to do in Strasbourg, go on, you don’t need to inform your guides.

11.If you have some points to add, fell free to leave your comment, it will be seriously considerate.

Christofer Fjellner

Hello everyone, meet Christofer Fjellner. Born 13 December, 1976 in somewhere unpronouncable in Sweden. Since 2004, he is a member of the EPP-ED group in the European Parliament. (So a conservative/Christian-Democrat.) Before that, he did what all hi-po conservatives do: Resume

In his time in Parliament so far, he has asked 14 questions. Most recently he asked about the consequences of giving the Commission incorrect information when applying for permission to take over another company. (BTW, the answer is that the Commission can give a fine, see article 23 of Regulation 1/2003.)
He also wrote one, very short, report and spoke in plenary 47 times, mostly commenting on votes: List of speaches in plenary. The most interesting speach is on discrimination against workers from the new member states, on 13 April 2005: Speach.

As for the rest of the trip, the ombudsman simply writes reports that no one reads, the Court of Human Rights is interesting enough, but somewhat toothless and in Parliament we will hear the president of Germany address the plenary.

Now that we have the preparation out of the way, I hope we can simply go back to having some fun!

Goodbye JOJO

Photoshop boys star Jojo has been named a Don Joan of the Year by Time magazine, honouring his rare ability to combine the duties of a Photoshop star with those of a global heartbreaker. He has consistently used his position as frontman of one of the most popular photoshop bands in the world to influence young Spanish girls…

Victime de son succès, le frontman des Photoshop boys nous quitte pour se lancer dans une carrière solo.

In his last interview, Jojo said : “I’ll be back… soon.”

Strasbourg trip: l’histoire continue

Dear trainee,
You are so excited, because on Monday you are going to Strasbourg in order to get “an insight into the role of the EP and the Council of Europe.”
But you have to respect the 10 commandments of Mme ***! En voici quelques extraits:

- Do not be late
- Prepare your questions for the for the round table discussion
- Do not drink too much wine at lunch, only within responsible limit!
- Do not share your room with a stranger.
A ce propos, les rumeurs vont bon train…

It seems that Miguelito is sharing his room with Martin. Be careful guys, Melinda is waiting behind the door!

Filipe told us that he is sharing his room with Laetitia Casta, Claudia Schiffer or both. After a 5-minutes investigation, we found out that “Laetitia Casta, Claudia Schiffer or both” is the new pseudonym used by Michael!
Without surprise, Chris is sharing his room with ten girls! (...)

- Do not organize parties in the rooms!
Oh no, said Zenaida, the organizer of the “consilium pyjama party”! What now?



Miguelito and Martin already made their choice : Spring 2006 Pyjama Collection of the famous designer “Bananas with pyjamas”.
Don’t worry Zenaida, by now our young lawyers are preparing a legal opinion on the differences between the concept of “party” and the concept of “pyjama party”, in order to confirm that the latter is not illegal. They are also analysing the possibility to organize the party not in a room, but in the corridor, knowing the latter is not illegal.

"Small" Concours

Nope, this is not going to get you a place in the Council... nor in the Commission, but you'll have the pride of being the most precise of the stagieres in the noble science of the "antromensura".

Voici la question: Qui est le/la plus petit(e) des stagieres, and how tall he/she is?

Answers should be posted ci-desous. Originality will be taken into account.

NB: The origin of this contest comes from a few beers yesterday soir, and I WAS NOT the person who started the conversation (se dice el pecado pero no el pecador)

8 Mars Journée de la femme

idée: Melindita

Our Mission!! (part II) - The Pictures

15:42:48 to go...and the winner will be...













...and here we are!

And the Winner is...Austria!!!!

... this week round...

Committee of the Regions and European Economic and Social Committee

Dear trainee,
Somebody will post something very serious and smart about our visit to the Committee of the Regions (CoR) and the Economic and Social Committee (EESC) dans les plus brefs délais. In the meanwhile however, we have to continue the well-established tradition and make our stupid post of the day!
During the interactive presentation of the two advisory bodies, the three specialised speakers included some highly important questions that I would like to summarize for those who didn’t come.

Question of the day
The 5 institutions of the EU in the strict sense are:
a) Council of the European Union
b) European Parliament
c) European Commission
d) Court of Justice of the European Communities
d) European Court of Auditors
e) others (specify)

Find the odd one (s)
The assemblies among the EU institutions are:
a) European Parliament
b) CoR
c) EESC
d) United Nations General Assembly
e) The General assembly of the pokemons!




But the question on everybody’s mind was...










Who is that guy anyway?











Copyright "question of the day": R23-Jansky

Our Mission!!

La mission été simple…aller au Mirano pour faire la fête après une semaine de travaille (très dur)…Le mot d'ordre était très séduisant…
"Your grandma danced to Eurovision…now you must Jump to Euromission…"
Trainees from all the institutions and some other interesting places (that I don't remember the name, but are certainly very important!!) were there trying to jump and to scream as load as possible, supporting our Austrian, Polish and Spanish friends. Austria won the first round of the Euromission competition!! They know how to party!? Apparently yes…very well indeed and with good results ;). Portugal will be in competition next Friday, please come and support (It's not and invitation, it's and ORDER…ok ok I'm becoming despotic, some kind of influences…)
But apart from the competition we had a lot of fun…it was incredible, we danced, we laughed, we jumped, we screamed and we promised to return... I hope we can repeat it again (in great number), showing our Power and enjoying our time without ties, badges or official procedures…Let us have fun, enjoy and discover ourselves better, because…(of course my traditional quote)
"When we seek to discover the best in others, we somehow bring out the best in ourselves."
William Arthur Ward

PS: Pictures availabe soon!!
PS2: Atanaska… promis c'est promis! :)

The incredible story of our team and its fan club

It started like this:- Do you want to play football against the Commission? “Of course”, said Miguelito; “Count on me”, said Filipe; “Ok, but are you professionals?” asked Chris; “Yes, but I want to play with 11 players” (No Giuseppe, we need only 5), “Je veux jouer aussi” a declaré Julian un jour après avoir enregistré l’équipe. On a choisi un nom: F.C. Désconseillé (à la Commission, comme ils n’ont pas d’humour, ils ont pris ça pour une faute d’orthographe et ils nous ont baptisé « Des conseillers »).

FC Désconseillé: Filipe, Julian, Atanaska (C), Chris, Giuseppe, José-Miguel.

As you can see, we were very motivated...













We dominated the first 5 minutes, and then “the bad guys” seemed to take over.












Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse, it did!











As their defence was too aggressive, I was just glad to get off the field.















Then the bad guys asked me to play with them in the ¼ finals, but 10 minutes later they kicked me out!







Come on, let’s have a drink after being trashed!













Next time, we will win!
Definitely!














The President of the fan club(Melinda), the Vice President (Zenaida) and Mike “the FAN” were amazing when we needed them to be vocal and loud. Guys, I can’t hear you!!!




On the way back home, Melinda was still supporting the team.


After all, we are proud of our young men for keeping their poise!